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Fake Maltese passports seized in Bangkok

Fake Maltese passports are among a large quantity of false passports which have been seized by the police in Bangkok.

Mohammed Karim, a 56-year-old from Bangladesh, was nabbed in a Bangkok townhouse late on Saturday by police who found a sophisticated passport making operation and more than 1,000 finished and unfinished documents, Police Major-General Chaktip Chaichinda said.

"He admitted that he made fake passports," Chaktip told Reuters, adding that his partner, a Myanmar national, escaped arrest.

The passports were for several countries including the United States, New Zealand, France, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and Malta.

Police seized two computers, a scanner, three printers and rubber stamps for several countries.

"This guy is rich. He has a BMW. He said he made about 300,000-400,000 baht per month (around $10,000)," Chaktip said.

The passports were sold to a group of Thai and Burmese middlemen who then sold them to gangs engaged in prostitution, terrorism and smuggling, he said.

If convicted, Karim faces up to 20 years in jail.

"It's the biggest fake passport case in the past four to five years," Chaktip said. Passport fraud is a common problem in Thailand, where police seized 100 fake documents last year.

(Picture: Bangkok Post)

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Comments

Albert Gauci Cunningham (2 weeks, 1 day ago)
Some maltese hate malta with a passion and yet they invest, work, marry and live here.............beats me .....with 2 euro flights I'd have expected them to fly away like a bird........but no they stay here maoning and feeling like Armageddon (for malta only!!) is at hand!!!
sylvan bonello (2 weeks, 1 day ago)
I have been working in the passport security environment for the past 6 years, and with all the respect towards Mr. Grech I don’t think that he has high expertise on the subject judging from the way he overviews the Maltese passport. The Maltese passport is highly secure and has many security features that the common Joe Blogs does not know. I will not do through all the features as it is both unethical and impossible, but just mention one minor fact about the laminate as referred by Mr. Grech. The Maltese passport has a special laminate called Mlis produced by DeLaRue
(http://www.delarue.com/Display.aspx?MasterId=9d8e3f01-1566-41d1-89f8-670e2b4ee543&NavigationId=935) which is being purchased by most countries since it is the best on the market. I would like to advise Mr Grech that it is unfair to criticise the Maltese Administration based on his own assumptions and not on real facts.
Emanuel Agius (2 weeks, 1 day ago)
Passports are becoming standard all over the world. Fake ones can always be done. Once a technology is created, evereything can be copied. So don't be impressed. There are people who have a passion to fake things or also to show what they are capable of doing it without getting caught. It happened also with internet etc.
Humans are seekers of achievements. faking object probably is one of them for some of these humans
Fleur Hili (2 weeks, 1 day ago)
You people disgust me. Do you always have something bad to say about Malta......When do you not leave and go and live in an other country so you see how bad we are living!!!!!!
We have the safest standard of living in the whole of Europe.
Best standard of education.
One of the best in health care.
Yes we are ahead in IT. (In the UK over 45% of households that have internet ,are still on telephone lines instead of ADSL).

The only real problem in Malta is people who complain that whatever is Maltese is never good enough!
Alexander Morana (2 weeks, 2 days ago)
Every country's passport look fake somewhat. Malta's is just like any other country. My old pal tal-bajtar u x-xemx worked just as fine even when I travelled to the USA, but this was years ago.
Better still a picture of Mickey Mouse on the front cover will do just fine, if you enter the US through Florida.
Paul Savona (2 weeks, 2 days ago)
Steven....

When did you last have your passport renewed, I had my last one nearly 10 years ago and it has a photo but laminated on top. The new ones have the photo now printed on the paper. This is a European standard for new passports.

Last time I had a photo stuck on my passport with glue or a staple was about 20 years ago. When our fantastic passport had the traditional Maltese boat, the sun and a cactus on the front (like the one on Mintoff's belt buckle), it was green like the Libyan passports, had French and Arabic translation and even a Map of the Med so people can see where Malta was. That was a joke that made people laugh.

The new passports look the business, have the necessary international standards, and are very impressive. Our crest on the front is something to be proud of, and I am. As to looking fake, I really do not know where you are coming from.

I have never had a problem with my passport and I have been on and off a plane more than I care to remember and visited passport control in a score of different countries. More often than not I have experienced that most people take longer with my passport as they have never seen a Maltese passport, however that should not be the case in Europe. So I really do not know what you mean by your comments below.

Charles DeMicoli (2 weeks, 3 days ago)
I don't know what some Maltese get out of knocking Malta, especially with foreigners.
Zap Branagan (2 weeks, 3 days ago)
Quote from A Galea: Also when it comes to IT we are ahead of most of Europe.

Can you give us 3 examples, please...?
Allen Galea (2 weeks, 3 days ago)
A. Zammit. If you compare our Education with overseas you will see that we not only keep up with the rest of the world but we are also ahead of others. I know this for a fact as I've seen it first hand. Also when it comes to IT we are ahead of most of Europe. Give Malta the credit when we deserve it!
A Daley (2 weeks, 3 days ago)
And instead of taking the mickey out of Malta, why didn't you tell the Italians that Malta is now using technology that Italy is yet to hear of because we are technologically more advanced than they are!! says Allen Galea.
Ha ha ha ha haj! Is this the same gimmick as the state of the art (new roads) that the Europeans are envious of? Ha ha ha ha haj. Let me breath a little - Ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha! Go and live somewhere else Allen and taste the difference!
A.Zammit (2 weeks, 3 days ago)
Galea... yea right smart malta! come on grow up and come down from the clouds you live int.
V. Pace (2 weeks, 3 days ago)
Well Mr Grech, it looks like your passport hasn't been renewed for some years!! Mine is not only laminated, but there is also a transparency scan of the actual photo and if I may say so is a very professional and REAL passport and has been this way for a few years now! I was actually quite impressed how advanced the Passport Office were at its timely delivery too. So maybe its high time you look into renewing yours!
Stephen Forster (2 weeks, 3 days ago)
This also happened to me! They look very amateurish compared to other countries. I have always wondered about the non-laminated page too!
josef sammut (2 weeks, 3 days ago)
I agree with Steven, this gives a bad impression of our country and should look more professional.
Allen Galea (2 weeks, 3 days ago)
Steven, I've never had that problem before. I've used my passport in a number of countries in Europe and also in US, Australia and Asia and it's never happened to me. There is no lamination on the photo page because the photo is now printed on, a much more tamper-proof solution than to glueing it on. And instead of taking the mickey out of Malta, why didn't you tell the Italians that Malta is now using technology that Italy is yet to hear of because we are technologically more advanced than they are!!
Melvin Gouder (2 weeks, 3 days ago)
Who needs a passport to enter Malta? I thought a speedboat and some extra cash in dollars will do the trick.

Nice weather will also help.
(and a compass that only points to N)
Danjel Bugeja (2 weeks, 3 days ago)
Same to me happened in Spain... even if it wasn't really funny
Steven Grech (2 weeks, 3 days ago)
Even "real" Maltese passports look fake!!! Maltese passports don't even have a laminated cover on the photo page.... i'm been stopped so many times in Italy, France and other European countries, where customs officials think i'm carrying a fake passport! One time in Italy, the guys were laughing, saying "It's ok let him through, the Maltese passports look fake but they're not" (in Italian obviously!) What did I do? laugh with them and take the mickey out of the Maltese administration...

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